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Archive Sunday #76

Added 2024-12-08 17:00:12 +0000 UTC

We met back up with Degnan and the van once we crossed back into the U.S. Earlier we had decided to let him hang out in upstate New York with most of the merch because it ends up saving a lot of money and hassle on the import/export taxes. It was exciting to be headed to one of our favorite museums up in North Adams, Massachusetts once again, plus this time we had more time than ever to check it out. We arrived in North Adams the night before the show and checked into this old-style hotel with these wrap around porches on all the buildings. The next morning we got to sleep in a little before heading to the museum to check out the new exhibits. I think I remember Ben waking up early and going on a nearby hike and swim in a mountain stream beforehand haha.

You can see from the photos we had a great time exploring the museum. My favorites were probably the James Turrell light exhibit (though this time we didn't grab a reservation for the Into Light room in time) and the interactive musical instrument exhibit. This time I think we had a reservation for the music room because I remember jamming with Will and Ethan on random percussion instruments for a bit while we had the whole room to ourselves. After an hour or two, we got back into show mode and started setting up the stage. Then we played a round or two of Drawful in the greenroom before heading out to stage. The show was super fun and definitely on our list to revisit!

The next day we woke up to some depressing news, turns out Graham in Bartees Strange tested positive for Covid. Bartees and the rest of the band wanted to play it safe, so they decided to at least sit out the next show in Boston while they waited for the gestation period to show more results. It's impossible to totally isolate while touring, so it was probably bound to happen at some point. But it's still depressing and stressful when you have to scramble to make new plans. So we assured Bartees Strange and the crew we would still make sure they were paid for all the missed shows due to illness and tried to brainstorm ideas of how to cover the open slot. We got to the House of Blues in Boston that afternoon and realized we wouldn't be able to find a support band on such short-notice. So Will thought it would be cool to open the show up for ourselves, so we quickly soundchecked a solo Toy Bastard tune and a 1 Trait track before grabbing dinner upstairs.

We were kinda unsure on how it would go over, but we started the show with Andrew doing an improvised "Art with Andrew" painting and Ethan and Will performing a couple solo songs to warm up the crowd. It must have worked, because I remember the crowd was super rowdy by the time the whole band took the stage. It was such a great night and kinda fueled the decision to stick with the show opening until Bartees Strange could safely rejoin.

The following day we headed back up north to Portland, Maine. Pretty sure this was our first show anywhere in the state as a band and I was surprised we made our debut at the rather large State Theater. It was such a cool spot, I remember walking around by the harbor and seeing some of the iconic fishing boats during our free time after the soundcheck. We stuck with the new show opening, and it still had the benefit of being a nice warm up for both us and the crowd. The show turned out excellent especially considering it was a rainy Sunday night!

The next day was mostly a travel day, so after a quick bite in New Hampshire we hit the road again until we reached New York. We ended up in a couple air bnbs in Brooklyn because it ended up being a lot cheaper, which had the added bonus of laundry right in our unit. So after doing laundry most of the night, we grabbed some food before turning in. When I woke up the following morning, I remember going out and searching for more canvas and paint supplies for Andrew and easily spent a couple hundred bucks on supplies. By this time Bartees decided to rejoin the tour albiet without Graham because he was still isolating and recovering. So we decided to throw the Art with Andrew segment during Sober to Death before he rejoined on drums for the ending.

We had three consecutive shows at Brooklyn Steel this time, which was definitely a welcome break from the constant travel. It was nice to have a bit of time to walk around Brooklyn before having to check in at the venue for soundcheck in the early afternoon. I remember we met up with our old friend from college Nora, who used to play drums with us back in the day. Before the show Will, Andrew, and Nora performed a live stream performance of Misheard Lyrics in the greeenroom that I'm pretty sure you can still find on YouTube. Those shows are probably some of the best ones we've ever played, and luckily we recorded them to release later as the live album for the tour.

WT: For some reason I remembered myself hanging out in North Adams for several extra days, but I must have hallucinated it. I remember we were all pretty frustrated after the Mass MoCA show (though Seth begs to differ). Our first leg of shows, we really hadn't found a 'clicking' point with the audience, and it was a very difficult set to play. There had already been a lot of logistical pains in the butt on the tour, and with the constant specter of COVID, it felt a bit predetermined that the tour would be affected by it (though no one would imagine its extent).

With the opening slot now on the table, it seemed natural to me that we'd try filling it ourselves - it would give us a good outlet to interact with the audience in a lower-key way before our proper set. My instincts were correct, and Boston was one of our best shows yet.

With Boston, Portland, and New York, we were finally able to get into a groove of good shows with a good crowd. Scurrow attended our last New York show and was able to finally hand off my Mortis fursuit, which I'd left with him after ANE earlier that year. At first I'd thought of having a friend wear him offstage, but then I got the whim to wear the body myself. I got overloaded by the heat pretty much immediately, but I made it through 6 songs before having to take it off. The crowd was really going wild that night - by Beach Life, I was getting pretty afraid as the front row was having problems with getting crushed by the waves of people behind them. I think we did Sober as the encore to try and chill people out. That night, I started feeling sick, and I remember going to bed thinking I'd had a bit of food poisoning from the local food.